


The Blue Sprite of Nicodranas

by hariboo



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Family, Found Family Feels, Friendship, Gen, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-03-28 14:39:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13906152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hariboo/pseuds/hariboo
Summary: Once upon a time —  is how it starts, not because it’s a fairytale, but because Jester loved fairytales, and okay, maybe in her head it’s a little bit of a fairy tale — there was a princess who lived by the sea.





	The Blue Sprite of Nicodranas

**Author's Note:**

> Just a silly character piece about friendship and family.

Once upon a time — is how it starts, not because it’s a fairytale, but because Jester loved fairytales, and okay, maybe in her head it’s a little bit of a fairy tale — there was a princess who lived by the sea. 

The princess was beautiful, talented in a _very_ specific ways, and lived in a beautiful castle where many suitors would try to win her heart. But they couldn’t! Oh, no, no, no, the princess, along with being very beautiful and very talented and gifted with a voice the Gods themselves would have stopped to praise, was also very clever. She knew that the men that came to her did not love her, not truly, even when they thought they did, which was fine because she did not love them. So she made it work. (Like, literally, it’s her work, but that’s not the point here.)

So the princess lived in her castle by the sea, receiving gifts from her suitors, growing her kingdom from their gifts, allowing them some time in her company, and happily sending them away. And it was a good life. An interesting life at the very least, and the princess enjoyed her power and her kingdom, but sometimes she’d look at the sea, it’s glittering blue, and wish for something a little more.

Then the stranger came to town. The stranger was a traveller who had some business in the town. He was (okay, nobody is sure about this, but it could be true) a very talented artist on a journey to paint the most beautiful things in the world. So, of course, he came to paint the princess. 

For the princess, it was very strange having the stranger come into her life, and not want what all the other men wanted from her. (All right, all right, he did kinda want what all the other men wanted from her, because well, she was really beautiful, and you know, he was just a man. But also! He did very much just want to paint her. After all, he was no Lord or Knight or Prince — um, as far as we know — and had no real gift to give the princess.) He stood in front of her and looked in her eyes in a way that no other man (or woman) had ever looked at her before and just asked to paint her. The princess, charmed by his voice, and intrigued by his hands, agreed, and so it began. 

It… didn’t take long.

Quickly, the princess and the stranger fell in love. The stranger would stop his work and restart it just to stay longer with the princess and the princess, knowing what he was doing, would let him, because she didn’t want him to leave. (Super romantic, _right _?) The day they first kissed they rolled in the sand letting the gods above witness their union. Several times. Very loudly. Soon after they decided that they didn’t want to hide their love — the princess finally realising she’d found a man who love her not for being a princess or being beautiful or being very skilled in, uh, very specific things, said yes to his proposal of marriage. The stranger smiled, kissed her, promised her his heart, and to finally finish the portrait to hang in their home. A symbol of their love.__

__Of course, it wasn’t a simple as that. (It never is!) The princess was still a princess, and the court had become used to the gifts of her suitors, they had built a small kingdom on the princess’ beauty, talent, and habits of turning away all the men that fell in love with her, all their gifts adding wealth to their home. The court could not know because of this, the princess told the stranger. They’d never allow her to change their ways. So they came up with a plan. The stranger would finish his work, go back to his home, set up his house for them to runaway to, and live in happily ever after. The princess agreed, the plan was sound one, and so she’d wait for word from him._ _

__Their last night together they shared kisses, touches, and the princess sat astride the stranger, smiling wide, their joined hands on her belly. They grinned at each other, their plan was perfect after all, and before dawn broke they said their goodbyes and promised to see each other soon._ _

__Sadly — yes, sadly — that was never to happen. The stranger never came back! (Very sad, let me tell you.) And the princess who could not escape her kingdom to search for him grew sad and curled into herself for months. Nobody saw her, only her most trusted handmaidens were allowed into her room. The court told the kingdom the princess had fallen ill and needed a magical herb to be healed._ _

__Men tried, women tried, many tried, but nobody could find the herb._ _

__(Of course not, it was a lie, because the illness was hiding _another_ secret.)_ _

__Then one day, the princess showed herself to the kingdom again. She smiled and said her illness had been cured by some special magic and resumed her duties as princess and ruler of her land, knowing she was a strong ruler, and that the person she loved most in the world was safe. It was all that truly mattered in the end._ _

__In the corner of the many corners of the castle there was a little room next to the princess’ in which a small cry echoed._ _

__The stranger’s final and most precious gift. The person she loved most in the world._ _

__And so the princess continue to rule over her kingdom, keeping her precious gift secret from the world, so nobody could hurt it and take it away._ _

__The portrait, if you want to know, still lives in the princess’ castles, rolled up and tucked up in the corners of one of the room, out of sight. That is until much later a little blue sprite comes across it with wide eyes._ _

__(Did they live happily ever after, you might ask? And the answer would be… we don’t know, but maybe. We will see.)_ _

__-_ _

__Once upon a time, another time, when Jester was small, listening to her mother sing from the roof above their rooms, she looked at the stars and prayed for a friend. In the stories, princesses always had at least one friend. A perfect friend who would help the princess in all their adventure. Her mother had many friends; her aunts as they called themselves, but Jester wanted a friend to call her own._ _

__That night she had a dream of a stranger who called himself the Traveller._ _

__And when it came time to leave her house and her mother, Jester was not scared because she had the Traveller with her, her best friend. Also, money, because Jester wasn’t stupid and she knew, from seeing her mother work her whole life, that money was very important and it was alway better when you had loads of it. Like _loads_._ _

__-_ _

__Once upon another time Nott came up to Jester, smiled at her, gave her some flowers, and said: “I love you, Jester. You’re my best friend!”_ _

__Immediately, Jester burst into tears. They poured from her eyes without her permission and really surprised her!_ _

__Immediately after that Nott started shaking. “Oh, no! Oh, not! Jester I’m so sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t— I didn’t mean if you don’t want me to! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt— oomph!”_ _

__Jester had lurched forward on their shared bed and hugged Nott so tightly that Nott squeaked. “No, never it take it back, Nott! I’m just,” Jester leaned back, her hands tight on Nott’s shoulders, and smiled. Nott smiled back, making Jester grin even bigger, “I’m happy, Nott. Happy tears! Happy!” She didn’t think she’d be so sniffly after such beautiful news. She loved Nott so so very much._ _

__“Are you sure?” Nott asked, hands shaking as she gently touched Jester’s hands. “I don’t— I don’t want to hurt you!” One of her shaking friends reached up to swipe away at Jester’s tears, and Jester loved Nott even more then. “And I know the Traveller is your best friend so I don’t have to be yours but you’re mine!”_ _

__Jester smiled again, more tears slipping down her cheeks that Nott caught, and sniffled. Loud. “Of course, your mine too!” She winked, “I’m pretty sure you can have more than one best friend and you are most definitely my second one.” She hugged Nott to her, feeling a warmth spread through her chest very similar to when the Traveller spoke to her, but different because Nott was with her, smiling her huge sharp smile, her golden eyes bright and warm, her tiny body hugging Jester back._ _

__“I always wanted a friend when I was little, you know,” Nott said, snuggling to Jester’s side. “I mean, Caleb’s my best friend, but he’s also like kinda my brother or dad. Dather? You’re my first ooh, ooh, you’re my first girlfriend! But not like Beau wants to be girlfriends with Yasha because you’re a tiefling and I’m a goblin.”_ _

__Jester tucked her in closer, snickering, deciding that it was not the time to explain interspecies relationships. “I know exactly how you feel, Nott. You’re my first girlfriend too!”_ _

__Nott turned to Jester her eyes shining. “WE’RE GIRLFRIENDS!”_ _

__“WE ARE!”_ _

__Smiling at each at the same time, they said, “Mystery solved!”_ _

__-_ _

__Once upon the next time, Jester found a stranger who she was hoping would become family, but it wasn’t to be. There reasons are complicated, and maybe one day it would be less complicated, but for now they are. It was okay though. Next to her, she had her family with her already, her best friend’s symbol tucked in the folds of her skirt, her other best friend, really sister by now, holding her hand, and the rest of her family standing beside her._ _

__She looked at them and looked back at the fairy tale she had long ago dreamed about._ _

__“Mystery solved,” she whispered to herself._ _

__“Jester?” Nott wondered, looking up at her, squeezing her hand._ _

__“You know,” she said, swinging Nott’s hand in hers, and grabbing Molly’s other, swinging it as well. Molly was always good for some hand swinging. “I always wondered if the princess and stranger would live happily ever after, but I think the story was the sprite all along! And I think she’s gonna!”_ _

__Nott blinked up at her and then gave her beautiful terrifying smile. “I think you’re totally right, Jester!”_ _

__Molly, still letting her swing his hand, shook his head and then lifted his hand up, letting both Jester and Nott twirl under it. “I like that story a lot more, I must say.”_ _

__Jester grinned and skipped forward. Nott on her heels. The rest of their family shouting at them to wait up. They… didn’t, laughing, and ran faster. The knowledge they’d never leave her behind, Jester felt a warm glow in her chest as she heard them run after her and Nott._ _

__-_ _

__And they lived…_ _

__Maybe happily ever after, but there a lot of things waiting in the shadows, after all, ready to change a story._ _

__…To be continued!! :D_ _


End file.
